In the postgame locker room at Candlestick Park on Nov. 13, after Eli Manning’s fourth-down pass was batted down by Justin Smith with 34 seconds remaining in the game, a bunch of Giants said they wanted one more crack at the San Francisco 49ers.

One of them was Victor Cruz, who desired another piece of the 49ers as a whole as well as the chance to go against cornerback Carlos Rogers, who irritated him that day by talking trash and mocking Cruz’s salsa dance after an interception.

This Sunday, in the NFC Championship Game in San Francisco, Cruz will see Rogers again in the game that will determine which team goes to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI.

“I did want that rematch,” the Giants wide receiver told The Star-Ledger today. “I do remember the salsa. It’s very vivid in my memory. I’m just excited to go back there and I’m going to make sure I get in his ear a little bit because we had a nice little matchup last time.

“It’s just good. Hopefully we can get a little bit of revenge and we’ll see how it goes.”

The Giants believe they might be on a mini-revenge tour right now, having beaten the Packers and now seeing the 49ers on deck. Some have gone so far as to suggest it could continue with the Ravens in a rematch of Super Bowl XXXV, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

For now, know there’s a lot of confidence and excitement being spewed by the Giants, who feel they could’ve easily beaten the 49ers in a game that slipped out of their hands starting with a hamstring injury that knocked out Michael Boley in the second quarter.

“That’s a game I honestly felt like we shouldn’t have lost. I felt like we let that one get away,” safety Kenny Phillips said. “They are a good team, they played extremely well (Saturday), but I think we’ll get the job done.”

“Because we felt like we could’ve beat them,” said Deon Grant, who vacated an area rookie Greg Jones should’ve helped cover on Vernon Davis’ touchdown. “It was a good game. It came down to a few plays here and there, and I have to tip my hat ... because they dialed up the right plays to beat us, so I can’t take anything from them.

“We still felt like, humbly, we should’ve beaten those guys.”

They’ll get another shot, a matchup that pleases the 49ers. San Francisco safety Donte Whitner said he watched the Giants’ victory over the Packers and was rooting for the upset.

“We played them already, we were familiar with them, and we didn’t really want to go up to Green Bay — it’s really cold,” Whitner said. “It’s better to have a home game.”

And with good reason: The 49ers have won eight of nine games this season at Candlestick Park, including the Week 10 meeting with the Giants in which Rogers told Cruz he was in for a long day. Cruz had mixed results — six catches for 84 yards, but no touchdowns against Rogers.
“He was like, ‘No salsa here tonight!’ ” Cruz recalled. “After the pick, he did the salsa and I was like, ‘Okay.’ ”

While Cruz has been “okay” with fellow wide receivers stealing his moves, he didn’t appreciate Rogers’ shimmy because he’s a defensive player.

Not to mention he had gotten past Rogers for a 21-yard catch. Plus, he beat Rogers on the play before the interception, only to drop the pass on what would’ve been a 20-yard gain with some more yards after the catch. Finally, after catching a 36-yarder past Rogers in the third quarter, Cruz began chirping back.

“When I was beating him, I was like, ‘You tryin’ to salsa that? You gonna salsa that one?’ ” Cruz said. “He was just cool. Carlos is a good guy and it’s just good to have a battle like that on the field.”

Especially when it’s a matchup Cruz perceives in his favor. He likes his matchup, and he likes the team’s as well.

Much better than if the Giants were to face the Saints.

“I guess so, just coming from our schedule, how it turned out and how we played against New Orleans and how we played against San Fran, it definitely works out in our favor we were able to get San Fran as opposed to New Orleans,” he said, “just because of how we feel about them and we understand we have a good chance of winning that game.”